Men's Giving Circle 2.0

January 24, 2020

Angel Chavez initiated the inaugural Men’s Giving Circle (MGC) back in 2015 and officially launched in the Spring of 2016 by literally picking up the phone and calling Latinos in his network to join him in helping to bridge the gap for young men of color and creating a pathway to success.

The MGC took off and at its peak had about 50 members who agreed to use the 6 tenants of the “My Brothers Keeper” initiative started by the Obama administration.

These 6 tenants include:

Entering school ready to learn

Reading at grade level by third grade

Graduating from high school ready for college and career

Completing post-secondary education or training

Successfully Entering The Workforce

Reducing Violence and Providing a Second Chance

As such, we've funded organizations such as Mission Graduates, Fathers of San Joaquin, HOMEY and Dev Mission.

In 2018 the MGC split into the East Bay and SF MGC. In addition, Pedro Gravista took the opportunity to start the LGBT GC and this further bifurcated the MGC. Since then, we have decided to bring the East Bay and San Francisco back together in order to take advantage of economies of scale, talent, and shared resources.

So, as we enter a new decade, we are excited to launch MGC 2.0 this evening for the new decade of making an impact. Of special mention, Anthony Chavez, and Tomas Quiñonez-Riegos, have shown great leadership in the East Bay and Martin Encinas Leon, Ernesto Martinez and Lawrence Flores, who are original members and have towed the line in San Francisco.

As we head into 2020, our vision is for these leaders to move us forward so that we can help other community-based organizations such as Dev Mission and make a significant impact in the lives of our young men of color.

We invite other action-oriented Latino leaders to reach out to us and support this special movement.